JUNIOR FOOTBALL: Rishton United's Ben Larnach was the four-goal hero for the Saturday Under eights as they won 5-0 against Darwen.

Larnach opened the scoring in the first half as Rishton enjoyed a good battle with Darwen. But United got on top in the second half with another three for MOTM Larnach and one for Oliver Jones.

The Under 11s won 3-2 against Blackburn Eagles with MOTM Mark Devine scoring two and Sam Malone grabbing the other. But they had to fight hard as Rishton let a two-goal slip.

The Eagles equalised in the last minute before Devine scored the winner in injury time.

The Under 16s ran out 8-3 winners over Rossendale United – and this was despite assistant manager Graham Avison getting lost with five players in his car although they made it just in time.

MOTM Liam Bentley opened the scoring with two quick-fire goals before Ryan Ralph made it 3-0 at half-time. It was a strange start to the second half because after six attacks – three for each team – the score stood at 6-3 to Rishton.

The Rossendale replies were all from set-pieces. As the game moved into its final stages, Rishton added two more goals from Alex Blackmore and Jonathan Savage.

The Under nines lost 1-0 to Barrowford Celtic in the Consolation Cup. It was a good team show by United with Declan Mercer playing well in goal and Callum Monahan in defence while Rishton were unlucky in front of goal.

The Under 10s lost 4-3 at Bacup in the first round of their cup. Top-of-the-league Bacup raced into a four-goal lead shooting down the slope.

In the second half, Rishton got one back through Kian McKenna and Lewis Burrows got the second.

With seven minutes left, McKenna got his second and Rishton pushed but could not get the equaliser. MOTM was Will Bellard.

The Under 10 girls drew 3-3 with Ossy St Mary’s and it was a second-half Courtney Du plessis strike that brought United back into contention.

Rishton were second best for long periods of the first half and trailed 2-0. However, straight after the interval, Du Plessis struck to get it to 2-1 although they were soon 3-1 down. Becky Fuller made it 3-2 before Bree O’Carroll scored a late equaliser.

Elsewhere, on Sunday, the Under nines won 3-1 against Greyhound Ford with goals from MOTM Kyle Essery, Sam Steer and Simon Avison.

It was goalless at half-time but, after the break, Essery chipped the ball over the keeper. Steer added a second while Avison lashed a free kick home before Greyhound got one back.

The Under 11s won 4-1 against Haslingden but had to come back from 1-0 down. Dexter Slater crossed the ball for George Taylor to volley home the equaliser before Taylor set up Slater for the second.

The third goal came when Slater played a one-two with striker Joel Davies before slotting home his second. Rishton then added a fourth before half-time, Jack Fenton’s long-range thunderbolt came back off the crossbar for Hesketh to stroke home.

At the other end, Sam Sharrock was superb in denying Haslingden a goal, and was only just edged out of the MOTM award by George Taylor.

The Under 12s lost 8-3 to Rossendale United Boys but it wasn’t the hammering the scoreline suggests.

Rossendale had won the previous fixture 12-1 so it was an improvement by Rishton. Nathan Sharrock struck twice to make it 3-2 at half-time.

In the second half it all went wrong as Rossendale stormed into a 6-2 lead before Sharrock stopped the rot with an individual effort to complete his hat-trick before Rossendale finished off the scoring.

The Under 15s lost 1-0 to Pendle Forest White in a Division Two top-of-the-table clash.

The first half saw Rishton come out of the starting blocks quickly but they couldn’t take their chances.

They continued to look strong after the interval but, on a breakaway, Pendle managed to beat keeper Josh Higham with a header.

The Under 16s drew 2-2 with Borrowdale United. Keeper Damian Wheatcroft kept Rishton in it early on but Borrowdale eventually took the lead.

Rishton then began to play and a good lay-off by Lee Woollam to Alex Blackmore saw Blackmore hit the equaliser into the top of the goal.

Jonathon Savage hit a long-range shot into the net to make it 2-1 at half-time.

The game could have gone either way after the break but it was Borrowdale who got the equaliser.

Referee’s MOTM was Jonathon Savage while Rishton’s was Tom Pollard.

IT was Greyhound Ford’s Under 16s first game since 13 December and it was never going to be an easy game against league leaders Darwen Rangers.

Greyhound had several players missing through suspension and injuries so therefore couldn’t field any subs and even Brandon Barski played despite carrying an injury.

The final score was 6-2 to Darwen with Barski scoring both goals. Robert Makey was MOTM in a cracking team effort.

In the Under 14s section there were convincing wins for both sides. The Saturday team came out 8-0 victors against Belthorn with goals from Dane Winter (four), and MOTM Billy Stewart (three).

On Sunday there was a convincing 14-o defeat of Blackburn Eagles thanks to hat-tricks for Jack Fowler and Bryn Potter, with two each for Sam Cook and Gabriel Whelan and Josh Short, Jacob Whitcombe, MOTM Sam Parkinson and Dane Winter grabbing one each.

OSWALDTWISTLE FC: The Under 15s beat Pendle Forest Green 8-0. Every player played well considering a seven-week lay off.

There were some great goals in the game, with two 25-yard screaming strikes from Rreferee’s MOTM Lewis Wissett.

There was also two good finishes from Cameron Townley and one goal each for Jordan Davies, Mathew Woodhouse,an own goal and another great strike from Ryan Pilkington to complete a well-earned victory and a great team display.

Ossy’s next match is against Crown Paints Green in the second round of the cup tomorrow at Blacksnape ko 10.15am.

Church FC Under 13s got their second win of the season, beating Whalley 3-0. Church started well, going 1-0 up early on with scorer Eric Morris, but this seemed to have a negative effect on Church as they seemed to ease off and invite pressure.

A rousing half-time team talk by assistant manager Simon Naisbitt did the trick though and Church came out after the break all guns blazing and dominated.

The pressure finally as MOTM Harrison Greenwood scored twice in the last five minutes to secure a well-deserved victory.

HUNCOAT UNITED: The Under nines lost 4-3 to Wilpshire Wanderers Black despite a late fightback.

They scored two goals in the last five minutes to narrowly miss out on a point. Scorers were Riley Armstrong, Morgan Dwyer and Charlie Kirby. MOTM was Jack Altham.

The Under 10s won 7-1 against Globe Bullough park while the Under 10 Badgers won 9-0 against the Huncoat Allstars.

The Under 11s on Saturday drew with Whalley 11 and on Sunday drew 1-1 with Lammack.

The Under 12s lost 8-0 to Wilpshire Wanderes while the Under 13s won 3-2 on Sunday against Blue Star Colts.

The Under 13 Allstars celebrated an 8-4 win over Rossendale United Lads while the Under 15s put nine past Todmorden Borough without reply.